# Chris Whitley -- Information Please

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-whitley-information-please/146818>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 5, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-whitley-information-please/146818 "2003-01-05T21:27:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-whitley-information-please/146818/1 "2003-01-05T21:27:13Z")

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I just bought Living with the Law, after knowing about Chris Whitley for umpteen years. Anybody heard his other material? I would appreciate opinions, especially of “Din of Ecstasy” and “Rocket House.”

Also, in some pictures he appears gaunt (he also appears to be wearing mascara, but that’s another matter). Does/did he have a serious substance abuse problem? Some of the songs on Living with the Law imply as much, but that could all be artistic license.

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**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-whitley-information-please/146818/2 "2003-01-05T21:29:27Z")

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I had a Chris Whitley album once (he’s the guy who plays slide guitar, right?). I can’t remember which one it was…wait…maybe it was ‘Big Sky Country’. I had heard him live on the radio and was disappointed with his studio efforts after I bought the album…much better live.

Don’t know much else about him.

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-whitley-information-please/146818/3 "2003-01-06T04:28:34Z")

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Watch out!

Watch out!Watch out!Watch out!Watch out!Watch out!Watch out!Watch out!

“Din of Ecstasy” is grungy/thrashy/just plain noisy, and “Rocket House” has a lot of computer-generated sounds (which would be like Jar-Jar showing up in a movie like A River Runs Through It).

He’s done some more recent stuff (some with his daughter) that’s more like “Living with the Law”. That’s still his best, though.

Listen before you buy!